Well today is the day.
Today I chance me arm and open the 45 and 75.
here hoping they still have some life left in them.
will be opening them in the wine shop in about 7 hours, once my shift finishes.
and will be joined by the owner and two others. so it will be a bit of crack (fun) anyways even if they are dead... the wine not the people.
Keep your fingers crossed for me
Stephen

Well it is done. I have opened both bottles of wine.
First the 75
Dead dead dead... this wine was undrinkable, the wine had traveled right through the cork. this bottle went down the sink.

Now the 45 Chateau de Ferrand
What a surprise that it was still drinkable, first on the nose there was prunes,plums, stewed fruits,estery and slightly like toffee and maybe slightly like polish . It reminded one of us of a Barolo nose.

It had soft tannins and a good length after drinking it you keep tasting it for hours...great. The spirts and the acidity were quite high and tended to over power the fruits. in the mouth I was getting prunes, stewed fruits and cherry.

I was really surpired to see this wine to be still drinkable after 61 years. I would like to thank everyone who encourage me to drink it. it was an expereince that will stay with me.

Stephen
Many thanks for the notes. Whilst sad to hear of the 75, the Ch. de Ferrand sounds like just the sort of aged pleasure that encourages my interest in older wines. There's just something "relaxed" about some of these older wines, and whilst others might find fault in a slight spirity-ness or slightly prominant acidity, I'm happy to marvel at the other flavours quite unique to older wines.

The cork was strange.... it was basicly tapered so once you pull it up a couple of mm it just slide right out, like nothing was holding it. but other than that it was in very good condition. the cork was the orginal cork... it had the year printed on it.